73: Africa, Race, and Racism in the Aid Community (2 of 2)

This episode is the second of a two-part conversation with Tity Agbahey. Tity is an attorney and a staffer at Amnesty International. Based in Senegal, her current work focuses on central Africa, though her previous work has focused elsewhere on the continent, and her life and travels have taken her to points beyond.

This pair of episodes should appeal to two types of listeners, those who know what it feels like to be the only one who looks like you in your university class, in your staff meetings, or on a discussion panel at a conference, and those who don’t but who want to understand.

This is also a conversation about colonialism, paternalism, and racism in one of the last places you should expect to find it, in the international aid and development sector. It’s also a conversation about the world’s general ambivalence towards African suffering, the benefits and limitations of African to African-American solidarity, privilege within an African cultural context, racism in France, internalized colonialism, an African perspective on racism in the US,  and everything else we could think to get off of our chests during a very open conversation.

72: Africa, Race, and Racism in the Aid Community (1 of 2)

This episode is the first of a two-part conversation with Tity Agbahey. Tity is an attorney and a staffer at Amnesty International. Based in Senegal, her current work focuses on central Africa, though her previous work has focused elsewhere on the continent, and her life and travels have taken her to points beyond.

This pair of episodes should appeal to two types of listeners, those who know what it feels like to be the only one who looks like you in your university class, in your staff meetings, or on a discussion panel at a conference, and those who don’t but who want to understand.

This is also a conversation about colonialism, paternalism, and racism in one of the last places you should expect to find it, in the international aid and development sector. It’s also a conversation about the world’s general ambivalence towards African suffering, the benefits and limitations of African to African-American solidarity, privilege within an African cultural context, racism in France, internalized colonialism, an African perspective on racism in the US, and everything else we could think to get off of our chests during a very open conversation.

Also it is in no way our intention to suggest that the opinions and points put forth in this episode represent the full depth and breadth of views held by 1.3 billion Africans. This is not the first, and it will certainly not be the last conversation about Africa and its 54 nations on this show, and we sincerely hope that you will check out our back catalogue and listen to previous episodes on related topics, from contemporary politics and economics in Zimbabwe, social entrepreneurship in the DRC, the Fulani people, and the role of women in Sudan’s ongoing revolution, to name just a few.

Take action for justice in Central Africa now…

Recommended reading from our guest…

Episode 41: The Fulani People, Conflict in Mali (2 of 2)

For this second half of our conversation we discuss the ongoing inter-communal violence in Central Mali, the features of Jihadist movements in the region, the prospects and barriers to peace, and the regional and geopolitical implications of these factors and why you should take notice of what's happening in the Sahel. 

Dougoukolo Ba-Konare is a clinical psychologist and teacher of Fula Language and Societies at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris, and a founding member of Kisal (an organization working on the promotion of human rights in the Sahel. 

Episode 40: The Fulani People, A Culture of the Sahel (1 of 2)

The Fulani are an ethnic group of around 40 million people who inhabit Africa’s Sahel region, the transitional biozone that spans the African continent from the Atlantic to the Red Sea and where the sands of the Sahara gradually give way to the savanna of central Africa. Traditionally a pastoral nomadic culture, they have long experienced tensions in some of the communities they call home, and are often treated as outsiders. Some of these conflicts have made international headlines recently, most notably in central Mali, where Jihadist groups and a lack of governmental authority have left communities vulnerable, and where competition for resources and mistrust have brought them into bloody conflict with other tribal groups.

This first of a two-part conversation about the Fulani people offers some compelling insights into how Jihadist groups are able to gain traction in isolated communities, and a more local perspective on global security issues that are traditionally given from a European or American perspective.

Dougoukolo Ba-Konare is a clinical psychologist and teacher of Fula Language and Societies at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris, and a founding member of Kisal (an organization working on the promotion of human rights in the Sahel. 

Episode 29: Malta & Refugees in the Mediterranean

Maria Pisani PhD is a Maltese citizen, lecturer, former head of office for the International Organization for Migration on Malta, and co-founder and director of Integra Foundation. As the EU’s smallest and southernmost member state, Malta has long been on the front lines of one of the busiest and the deadliest migratory paths on earth, where more than 14,000 people have lost their lives since 2014, attempting the crossing from North African shores to the EU.

We discuss Malta’s role in the refugee crisis, the features of Maltese policies and how they have shifted over the years, and the moral, political, and logistical implications of the EU’s policy of containment and deterrence since 2015 when Europe saw the largest numbers of refugees since the Second World War.

From: Malta Today

From: Times of Malta